Why Don’t Duo Albums Ever Work?

We’ve all dreamed about it at some point. There’s come a time where we’ve all wished we could pair two solo artists together with the predetermined outcome to be an album that would bang from front to back (pause). With no skippable tracks. Even to this day people still hold a glimmer of hope for a Nas and Premo album. Whatever the actual reason(s) may be, it hardly ever happens – even when both artists say it will. The rare exception to the rule? Jay-Z and R. Kelly. Just look throughout the years at the collabo projects that’ve been anticipated, and will probably never see a release date.

(What was) Dipset has been known to be involved with quite a few. Years back, Juelz Santana and Jeezy had a project entitled, Best of Both Hoods. There was also talk of a Jim Jones and Styles P project. And Hell Rell was rumored to be working with Styles P on their joint album, Hardest Out. For what it’s worth, I’d still welcome the LP if it were ever to see the light of day. On the same chord, Rick Ross and Birdman’s album seems to have found itself in the same bunch.

Most recently, Jay-Z, Young Jeezy and Trey Songz created some rumblings with Mob Squad. I’m about 95% sure this won’t ever happen, but if it did, it’d be hard for them not to create a quality album. Maybe it was just to create hype for their tour, but they unknowingly added themselves to this list.

Speaking of Hov, the chances of a Beanie, Scarface and Jay triple album were a bit overzealous. But over vintage Kanye and Just Blaze, this would have had no choice but to be an instant classic. Well, if it ever came to be. Even today, with all the drama between Sigel and Jigga, this album would be appreciated.

By far, the most notorious is Lil Wayne. He and Lloyd’s Best Of Young Worlds seems to be stuck in the matrix. The same goes with T-Wayne. Back in the day he was even slated to do a tape with Game called Blood Brothers. What separates I Can’t Feel My Face with Juelz from the rest, however, is we know this project is completed. Songs have been leaking from this disc for years. It’s just caught up in the standstill traffic that are label politics. Wayne going to jail doesn’t help matters much either.

For shits and giggles, Bow Wow and Omarion actually went against the grain and dropped a project, Face Off, which then proceeded to fall off the face of the planet. At the time it seemed like a great pairing with Bow and O still being somewhat relevant. After that, rumors began circulating regarding O’s (lack of) work ethic and Shad even dissed him on a record.

Ultimately, the only ones left confused in all this are the fans. Which is exactly why Nas and Damian Marley’s Distant Relatives has been anticipated since the day the release date was confirmed (May 18 FYI). Hopefully I’m not jumping to a conclusion when I say this has the potential to be one of the year’s more memorable releases. One, because both are extremely talented artists in their own rights. Their impact on their respective genres should go without saying. Two, the LP has a purpose bigger than just musical accolades. The inspiration behind the project is Africa. In a perfect world, this would inspire both artists to crack musical barriers which seemed impossible beforehand.

Simply put, this will hopefully show that marquee solo artists can work together, live up to the hype and produce great and timeless music. If it happens, they, too, will be exceptions to the rule. Because as it has already been stated, for artists who constantly remind themselves of their wealth, we can never truly take their word to the bank.

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That Dre/Cube album “Heltah Skeltah” and the original Murder Inc. album – Jay/Ja Rule/DMX both disappeared too.

jonny bizness

yeah i remember seing that cube/dre album on the back of doggystyle album what a album that would have been!!!!!!!!

http://XXLMAG.COM INTERNET BULLY

YEAH… BOTH OF THEM JOINTS ( DRE-CUBE AND MURDER INC )WOULD HAVE BEEN EPIC… I CANT SAY CLASSIC BUT MOS DEF WOULD HAVE BEEN GREAT WORKS OF ART. THOSE NAS AND (AZ, DRE, PRIEMO JOINTS WE BEEN WAITING ON FOREVER…)NO OFFENSE TO NAS HE’S GREAT BUT AFTER THE NIGGER ALBUM A STRAIGHT HIP HOP ALBUM IS WHAT HIS FANS BEEN WAITING FOR SPECIALLY AFTER THAT SHIT WITH KELIS… AWWW MAN… THAT NIGGA SLACKING… FUCK IT I SAID IT…

deshawn

that’s real talk alot of pep’s don’t remember at murder inc.

bottom of da map

What about

Birdman & Lil Wayne “Like Father, Like Son”

http://www.yahoo.com Streets Is Watchin

what about it? lmao….

1Word.

FA REAL?
WHAT ABOUT THE SCORE FUGEES!

nick

fugees werent a duo.

Mr Sin

ghostface and mf doom were supposed to have a collabo album out years ago…

Yeah, thats why AZ needs Nas an not the other way around. Thats why Nas put Az on an not the other way around. And thats why Az aint got a deal right now and its not the other way around. Just look at Az’s trend. He’s nice dont get me wrong but he cant live without Nas and not the other way around. Everytime Nas drops an album, THE N AZ goes and drops a song or mixtape using the same concept. C’mon man get real. Nas in Africa recording with Jr Gong and Az’s tryna find a Jamaican to record some songs with and his new mixtape is gonna be called “Family from a far”!!

http://letyoutellit.com/ http://letyoutellit.com/

Styles And Jadakiss would make a great duo album but yea you right that crap would never happen

Port Lyfe

Didnt Ice Cube say something about him and Scarface doing something together

nick G

the most biased blogger ive ever read.

“By far, the most notorious is Lil Wayne”

along with the fact that every post youve done are about him.

MidWest Grindin

Not just biased, bro…Her profile on other sites read “Young Money Associate”. So she’s a roadie/groupie/dickrider for Wayne and his crew. All those Ustream videos and interviews with Young Money are done by her.

m.e.

what would be dope is em and 50 album with dre beats but we all no that aint guna happen!!

og bobby j

you know would make that album even iller? if we accelerated the delorian to 88 MPH and set the flux capacitor to november 2003, when both em and 50 hadnt yet fell the fuck off….

Internal politics, big ego’s, its easy to see why most of these collabs never happen!

and the Jayz/R Kelly album kindofa sucked and the tour kind of peppered out ! lol

Deadly MIME

Man I really do not like collabo albums cause it tells me that the artists are washed up, are out of ideas, and tryin to create buzz. Plus this chick is either bias like Nick G pointed out or shes just into mainstream rap and dont know shit bout hip-hop.

http://alkdsjf.com MARCY

Washed up. AKA THE BLACKOUT cd part 1 and 2. How come METHOD MAN and REDMAN arent mentioned in the article? they said they were gonna do it and they did, although a little to late in their careers

Anonymous

x

Lyrical Assassin

Artists are a bunch of pussys these days,Give the fans and the people who are purchasing your shit what they want, Artists bitch about people downloading and bootlegging there shitty albums with weak ass beats,Keep Bootlegging this mo’ fuckers till we get what want, Nas,AZ,Cormega, produced by premo…

Step yo! shit up Nugga’s!!

hiphopdoc

i couldn’t have said it better myself LA!

These artists put out anything nowadays and expect us to just accept it. FUCK THAT! We aint settling for less no more! ENOUGH IS ENOUGH!

djfupayme

D@mn! you right cuz!

Make them give us what we want! They think they give out halfazz product & keep people loving them no!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Big head dudes are super lazy these days on the rhymes & beats!

Stop the madness!

El Tico Loco

The 4 Horsemen woulda been great.

http://Pierzy11@gmail.com Pierzy

They did put something together – “The Horsemen Project”…it was far from polished but I liked the rhymes (of course).

raazi36

Ghostface an DOOM need to drop that album already, an i heard that Canibus an Kieth Murray were doin’ a collabo album, speaking of which, anybody know where canibus @ ????…maybe the back of the XXL milk carton , i fucks w/ canibus tho

Curtis75Black

Canibus and Keith did already. They dropped a EP under the name Undergods – Sept 09. I wasn’t feeling it. No concepts, just rapping over beats. Not saying you wouldn’t like it.

http://WWW.TWITTER.COM/GODILOCKSPOPPIN GOLDI

PERSONALLY ONE DUO THAT I TRULY BELIEVE WOULD WORK IS DRAKE AND TREY SONGZ THEY HAVE YET TO MAKE A SONG TOGETHER THAT I DIDNT THINK WAS HOT….REAL TALK IF THEY DID AN ALBUM TOGETHER I WOULD BE THE FIRST TO COP IT LOL THEY TRACKS TOGETHER ARE ALWAYS FIRE!

Sincere

lol

“since hov and kellz ain’t doin it no more guess me and trey the replacements”

I know their probably now better known as a group but originally it was four solo artists coming together and they managed to put out an album.

i remember a couple of years ago there was talk of a group album made of t.i., akon and nelly… that was another not to see the light of day. There was also talk of t.i., jeezy and luda combining but i think that died when t.i. was sent away.

i know lupe announced the all city chess club the other day but that has way too many artists involved to become a project. it may work with Lupe, the cool kids and b.o.b. but no need asher or blu or anyone else. actually i think J cole was mentioned…he could fit into that but it wont happen anyway so never mind

http://www.xxlmag.com 615banga

Jeezy and Gucci!

ezeerblooc

Child Rebel Soldier when is that suppose to happend

JAY213

WHAT ABOUT HOW FLY WIT CURREN$Y AND WIZ KHALIFA EVEN THOUGH IT WAS A MIXTAPE IT WAS STILL HOT

AZ40

Yes it was indeed that’s the reason I started checkin out curren$y, I want them to do another one

JAY213

THEY ARE IT SUPPOSED 2 BE CALLED HOW FLY 2:THE WRIGHT BROTHERS BUT WELL SEE IM CROSSING MY FINGERS BUT I THINK CREATIVE CONTROL IS THE FUTURE OH YEA DONT 4GET 24HOUR KARATE SCHOOL

http://www.jamal7mile.blogspot.com Jamal7Mile

It’s almost like boxing. If it ever happens, it takes years just to get the top 2 contenders to fight.

Politics, ego and money are usually to blame. I’m just glad that Red and Meth were able to do what they do. Props to Heltah Skeltah for “Nocturnal” as well. Dope shit.

oskamadison

Co-sign. The first “Blackout” joint might arguably be the best collaborative album ever, even if Red was straight servin’ Meth like Serena Williams front start to finish.

http://www.ryzerecords.com Pierre Reynolds

Yeah, where is that?

niuck3327

what about the Dre/Rakim CD that got shelved due to “Creative Differences,” could have been the greatest of all time.

http://alkdsjf.com MARCY

I personally think Dre wants to be remembered like pac, releasing more albums in his passing than while alive. I mean, once stat quo left aftermath he said dre and em have thousands of banging joints that they never plan on releasing, he said he left cause he was tired of having the hottest joints in the game playing in the car stereo and not allowed on the radio,

These Should See The Light Of Day:
Dre/Cube(or Cube over just Dre Beats)
Snoop/Dre(w/only Dre Beats)
Nas/AZ(w/Premo Beats)
R. Kelly/Mary J. Blige
Fabolous/Lil’ Mo
Jay/Ja Rule/DMX
Luda/Busta/Missy
Face/Cube/Nas
Jay/Sigel/Face
2Pac/Face
Drake/Trey Songz
Jeezy/Bun B
Kiss/Loso/Banks
Lil’ Kim/Foxy Brown(come on now, don’t tell me I was the only one looking forward to this after seeing them on the source cover together?)
Tech N9ne/Twista/Bone(think about it, Tech can bring that Dark Tone, Twista brings The Lyrical Tone & Bone Brings The Melodic Tone For The Hooks)
I Could Go On But I Think Ya’ll Dig The Point I’m Trying To Get Across.

Here Is A Couple That SHOULD NOT:
TI/Nelly
Pharrell/Akon/Nelly
Bow Wow/Omarion(guess they thought this would make fans happy after the “Hold You Down” collabo).
And There Is Probably More To Come From This Part Of “Should Not See The Light Of Day”. Any More Collabs?

opm509

twista and bone sposed to be coming
but i dont know if itll ever happen

og bobby j

established artists rarely collab because its not as profitable….hence the ability of slaughterhouse to do so, being none of them are truly established (i would argue it, but its fact)

i was hoping slaughterhouse would inspire a saigon, terminology, cassidy and papoose team. That “to the top” joint (i know pap wasnt on it) was pure fire….

Klc says he has that Tank Dogg album but thats probably bullshit—unfortunately 504 Boys dropped once mystikal and half the label left so they pieced some shit together w/ a bunch of lame niggas. These woulda knocked if they dropped in 98

GET YOUR MIND CORRECT WAS SOOO GR8 .. AND CONTROVERSY SELLS TOO . DANG .. CHAM NEEDS TO DO AN ALBUM WITH DEVIN . THAT SONG” BACK UP PLAN ” HAS TO BE NO 1 IN ANY CREEPING/LOVE CHEAT COUNT DOWN .

http://www.bboycult.com $yk

Yo…

‘Survival Skills’-Buckshot/KRS-One

Was the question relating to Rap/RnB only? Or are we only looking @ ‘big artists’?

“pair two solo artists together with the predetermined outcome to be an album that would bang from front to back (pause).”

^ SINCE WHEN DOES A FEMALE USE ‘PAUSE’????

latino heat

let’s not forget,

Dr. Dre / Timbaland – Chairmen Of The Boards

Nelly / Usher – Best Of Both Worlds. not saying i wanted to hear it but it is on topic

Bubba Sparxxx / Pastor Troy / Sean Paul (Youngbloodz) / Polo Da Don – New South. i heard Bubba mention this on MTV when Deliverance dropped. there may have been some others mentioned for this group as well, i can’t remember anymore.

Lupe / Pharell / Kanye – don’t remember the name but we all knew it wasn’t gonna happen.

B.G. / Soulja Slim – B.G. claims to have this album finished. i bought a copy of this from a bootlegger back in 2004 when B.G. first mentioned it. needless to say the “album” i bought was bullshit. haven’t heard any mention of it since.

2Pac / Boot Camp / Luniz / Wu Tang – One Nation. another album i have on bootleg that i haven’t bothered listening to cause i’m sure it’s bs.

http://alkdjf.com MARCY

Comments were better than the article. Personally, I have always wanted thought that somehow, it would be musically amazing if

DMX and Hi-Tek

did a colabo, i mean, DMX has always been raw, while searching for spirtual guidance in his life through his music, and Hi-Tek has made some of the most soulful hip hop beats ive heard, but the rappers on his shit havent been up to par, talib excluded. basically what im saying is these are two deep motherfuckers who should join forces. im more hyped for this imaginary combo than the rumored and unmentioned
JAY-Z Kanye

Posterboy15

From an RnB Perspective, that bow wow and Omarion album was muscially good.

kedordu

IT WAS SOUND . AND IT WASNT A FLOP AS I RECALL .

P. Harris

I remember before Pac died, it was a rumor buzzing about a 2Pac/BootCamp Album. I bought a mixtape with them with like one song but never heard anything else???

Producer/Rapper Albums that I was looking for:

Nas and 9th Wonder

Busta and Dr. Dre

Royce and Black Milk

T-Money

I think it sucks that Bol is one of the bloggers actually keeping XXL alive, aside from Mike Bigga, Tha Office, and Combat Jack.
XXL, you guys had a great run with Ron Mexico, until he up and left. I suggest you find that cat soon because Karen Civil got to be one of the most boring bloggers since OJ Da Juiceman.
Speaking of guest bloggers, will you guys do us a favor and actually recruit more intelligent rappers/producers, please? I think I kept getting a brain anuerysm reading Drumma Boi’s material. Now back to Ms Civil: she never goes into depth about what she writes, and quite frankly, I’ve seen ingrown toenails more exciting than her blogs.

oskamadison

“…quite frankly, I’ve seen ingrown toenails more exciting than her blogs.” Damn, son, she bleeding, son, bad, son. Are you saying you’d rather watch a lizard exfoliate than read one of her blogs?

JakeL

What does she mean duo albums never work? Best of both worlds went platinum even though it came out right in the heat of R Kelly’s pedophile allegations! and spawned a sequel! don’t put their faces up there

bullets

man fuk the collaborations these nigas dont even put out good solo’s for me to want to hear them rapping with another wack nigga the best collaboration i’ve heard was that how fly mixtape wiz khalifa and curren$y that shit is a classic fuk all that no ceilings bullshit and twayne or whatever the hell yall was talking bout

Mr. North

Redman and Method Man? Madvillainy? Jaylib? The Firm didnt sell well but it was a good album.

what about that masta ace/ed og shit that just dropped….and krs-one/buckshot….. wu-massacre was a collabo record… all of these are dope….Dre and Snoop were supposed to drop another record called breakups 2 makeups… i heard rumors about 50/eminem record too

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